A state of emergency, or “estado de emergencia” in Spanish (emergency), is a special situation that allows state/local governments to take action quickly to prevent widespread damage, loss of life, and serious injury from natural disasters or man-made disasters. A state of emergency enables state and local government agencies to access the resources they need to help residents and businesses recover from these events.
The governor may invoke a state of emergency in response to a natural disaster, man-made disaster, or to a public health threat like an epidemic or disease outbreak. A state of emergency declaration gives the governor a range of additional powers and authorities that may be used to respond to these emergencies. These include allowing the activation of state emergency response plans and a full-scale activation of the state Emergency Operations Center. It also allows the Governor to streamlining many administrative procedures that would normally be held up by the normal checks and balances in order to get the resources needed into the affected areas quicker. The Governor can also take actions to protect the safety of the general public including ordering evacuations, implementing curfews or other restrictions on persons and property.
These measures can even infringe upon rights enshrined in the constitution such as freedom of speech or movement to a reasonable extent but only if they are deemed necessary and reasonable for dealing with the specific situation at hand. The state of emergency ends when the Governor decides it is no longer needed to keep people safe or to carry out essential state business and can be revoked at any time by the Governor.